The murder trial of Adam Montgomery, the New Hampshire father accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter Harmony Montgomery, continued Wednesday. This time, law enforcement and forensic experts took the stand, providing testimony on the state’s physical evidence, while the defense seemed to suggest that the evidence had been compromised.
Investigators in the trial of Adam Montgomery focused on the ceiling of a family shelter where Adam Montgomery, his estranged wife Kayla and their two young children lived in 20202. It’s also where Harmony’s body was allegedly stored after her death.
Her father is accused of keeping her body in the ceiling of the room where they stayed. A shelter work order from the day after the family moved out reads: “weird smell coming from vent in unit one come check it out.”
Manchester police officer Scott Riley recalled the smell he encountered while processing the scene.
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“As soon as I removed the cover, I could smell what I know is decomposition. I could smell a dead body, or what I believe to be a dead body,” Riley said.
Riley described seeing a stain near the edge of the vent. That staining was swabbed and tested -the results finding that it was a likely positive for blood.
Portions of that ceiling were removed as evidence.
Jurors were shown the fluid-stained ceiling that was tested at the state lab and another one in Florida.
Other witnesses who testified Wednesday included Katie Lynn Swango, who works at the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory. She started on the stand Tuesday, describing DNA tests she ran on a pink Trolls toothbrush found in the trunk of Adam Montgomery's Sebring, which matched both Adam Montgomery and Crystal Sorey, Harmony's mother. It was a likely match to a child of those two people.
Manchester police Detective Ray Lamy was another witness on Wednesday. He also discussed the ceiling, as well as testing conducted on an Audi the Montgomerys lived in for a few nights around the time prosecutors believe Harmony died.
Rachel Radwich, a supervisor in the Manchester Police Department's evidence division, spoke about her role in the investigation and noted that there were about 900 pieces of evidence involved in the case. She also testified about the ceiling tiles from the shelter, including staining and a "pungent, rotted" smell that she associated with decomposition based on her experience at death scenes.
Jurors also heard from the drywall contractor who installed the drywall at the shelter and from Kevin McMahon and Martin Orlowicz of the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory.
A retired serologist for the state, McMahon tested a number of items, including portions of the ceiling, looking for evidence of body fluids.
“Each of those areas on everything I tested in that particular exhibit was positive for blood,” McMahon said.
The defense has raised questions about the handling of the ceiling and other evidence like the Audi.
Adam Montgomery has not been attending his murder trial. He was convicted last year in an unrelated case involving gun theft and was sentenced to over 30 years in prison.
We should learn more about the motivation by the defense when it presents its case.
